photography

Rwanda, The Exodus, November 1996

It's mid July 1994 when Rwandan refugees arrive in Zaire, crossing together the borders. Everyone fled the country in search of safety and of a vague protection.
The war is made with the "machete", while the rest of the deaths is caused by cholera.
After the massacre, the war, and the hunger, cholera is the greatest scourge, causing about half million victims.
Again the border between Zaire and Rwanda is protagonist of human suffering.
It's the end of November 1996.
After the clashes that took place in the vast field of Goma between the Zairian rebels of Tutsi origin and the Hutu militiamen infiltrated into the fugitive population, the refugees under the pressure of the Zairian government fled the camp-town of Mugunga. For two years Mugunga has been a utopian place for fragile lives at risk. The stream of refugees crosses the threshold marked by the frontier., the one between Goma and Gisegnyi, the region of Kivu.
Every minute six thousand people cross the frontier, by now open wiyhout any control.
A huge mass of refugees, in complete chaos, invaded Gisegnyi. Crowded to become a measureless throng, the refugees spend several nights and days outdoors, before they were moved to Katale, Kibumba,and Nugunga, districts of Kigali, the capital city.
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